GTA IV Censored

[10wellsmit]

hey,

 

Yes, i'm mortified at the stupidity of the OFLC too.

 

It seems that GTA IV is being looked at very seriousl to be censored or banned (if consorship is refused) is Australia

 

Since Blitz: The League was banned and denied sale to Australians for drug use, the OFLC (like ESRB in Australia except run by government ) feels it fair for GTA IV to be at least censored (it includes drug use)

 

 

Ther full article is here

 

 

This sums it up:

 

 

These are very trying times for the Office of Film and Literature Classification. There is ever mounting pressure from the general public and media in integrate an R18+ rating into the classification scheme and more often than not the OFLC are left holding the ends together. In an event that is sure to send the fires of revolution a blazing, Rockstar have told "Screenplay" a subsidiary of The Sunday Morning Herald, that there would be alterations made in order to bring the game within the constrictive limits of the Australian games classification system.

 

All around the world, Grand Theft Auto 4 has managed to pass through various classification schemes without a scratch. Even the German equivalent of our classification board let the game through without incident, and that's amazing considering the harsh nature of their system. If you were to ask Rockstar two months ago whether the Australian version would be edited in any form, they would have told you that it would remain true to that released in any other region. It's concerning that such a thing would change, especially so in light of the OFLC bringing so much attention to itself in the media of late.

 

Rockstar have stopped short of saying the nature of the removed content but Australian gamers can only hope that it's nothing too substantial. However previous rulings of the OFLC incite a sense of fear in how they are relevant to Grand Theft Auto 4. Last year Blitz: The League was refused classification in Australia because of drug related content. It just so happens that there will be segments of the main campaign in Grand Theft Auto that will address such substances as a key theme. One would not be wandering too far away from logic to suggest that there is the possibility of significant portions of the game being removed just for the sake of the pious Michael Atkinson.

 

Already in message boards across the vast landscape on the internet, angry Australian gamers are declaring revocation of their pre-orders. Instead they have chosen to import from countries that do not employ an embarrassingly fascist classification system for video games. Also let it be said that Michael Atkinson is now officially the "Jack Thompson of Australia". We'll have to start printing shirts along those lines I suppose.

[GTA3Freak-2001]

Late to the party my friend, already been posted.